Lunice brings a Lachine lean to Southern rap

Erik Leijon, Special to THE GAZETTE09.17.2012

“Artists who come out of Montreal usually do so because they’re able to easily cross over into different sounds,” says Lachine producer/remixer Lunice, whose beats incorporate his ever-evolving tastes.

MONTREAL - When one thinks of fertile rap music hubs, it’s usually Harlem, Compton and Atlanta that spring to mind; no one ever mentions Lachine, and understandably so.

As a result, Lunice could feel like an outsider in the American-dominated rap landscape, but he’s actually revelling in his geographic ambiguity.

“People tend to think I’m American,” the 24-year-old says. “Artists who come out of Montreal usually do so because they’re able to easily cross over into different sounds. If you’re a producer from Atlanta, you’re expected to sound a certain way, but a producer from Montreal — from Canada, even? Nobody knows what to expect.”

The Lachine native — full name: Lunice Fermin Pierre II — made his onstage debut at the Rosemont venue Zoobizarre (now CFC) five years ago, and even at a young age was a musical anomaly in his neighbourhood.

The former breakdancer — who, unlike most beatmakers, will dance energetically during his performances — recalls he and childhood friend Kevin Ly were the only two rap aficionados at Dalbé-Viau high school. “I poked two holes on the side of my backpack, put portable speakers in my bag and had a CD player with Busta Rhymes’s Genesis. I’d blast that to school every day while on my skateboard,” he says.

It’s been a busy year for the in-demand remixer and performer, who surprisingly showed no signs of jet lag during our interview at Old Montreal’s PHI Centre despite a recent touring itinerary that saw him fly from Hawaii to Los Angeles to London to Norway and back to his hometown.

Lunice’s latest endeavour is TNGHT, a collaborative project with Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke that he insists is not a duo. In July they released a debut eponymous EP he refers to as a CV, since it consists of just five instrumental compositions designed to catch the ears of rap’s most prominent MCs.

“More producers know us and more rappers are into us than ever before, so now the doors are open to fully present ourselves and the kind of music we make,” he says. “At first we only planned on putting out music for big-name rappers, to directly enter the game. But instead of having one beat on one rapper’s album, we went with five beats and no rappers.”

Lunice jokes that his productions aren’t groundbreaking, but says the way he thinks about music gives his beats an indescribable freshness. He has a deep affinity for Southern rap, although he’ll also incorporate his ever-evolving tastes, such as breakbeat and bossa nova, into the mix and often tries to emulate rap verses on his instrumental tracks with a melodic synth line or hi-hat.

He has released a pair of official EPs as a solo artist, and is currently working on his first full-length, which promises to include cameos from his famous vocalist friends.

“Recently, rap’s been a lot of trap trap trap,” he says, in reference to the popular style of Southern rap that’s musically stark and heavy on drug references. “But it’s not a sound I’m going for. For me it’s more about trying to capture the emotion of listening to it.”

So far he’s developed a greater following outside of his hometown. He even performed his first headlining show — called Lunice & Friends — in London in May, rather than host it here.

“I just finished reading Miles Davis’s autobiography,” he says, “and even he admitted his city was the last to love him. I’m a patient guy, though, and that’s how I work too. They don’t show the love now, but if I keep pushing my city, they’ll love me back eventually.”

TNGHT is available now. Lunice opens for Lil B on Friday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. at Club Soda, 1225 St. Laurent Blvd., as part of the Pop Montreal festival. Tickets cost $28 and can be purchased via popmontreal.com.

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